Hosiery-finishing apparatus



April 16, 1929. L. GRAY HOSIERY FINISHING APPARATUS Filed April 8, 1926 (DH 8mm ,Zynn Gran 1 Patented A r. 16,1929.

UNITED: STATES PATENT .OFFICE.

' LYNN GRAY, OF WAUPUN, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR T PARAMOUNT TEXTILE MACHIN- ERY. COL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

HOSIERY-FINISHIN G APPARATUS.

Original application filed March 24, 1921, Serial No. 455,088, now Patent Divided and. this application filed April 8, 1926.

This invention relates, primarily, to hosiery finishing apparatus; it has reference, more especially, to structures for drying o and shaping so-called full-fashioned and 5 mock-seam hosiery; and the subject-matter thereof is completely disclosed in my parent application Serial No. $55,088, filed March '24, 1921, entitled Hosiery drying and snap,

ing forms, and patented May 4, 1926, asNo. 1,583,590, and, consequently, the presentcase is a division thereof.

As distinguished from so-called seamless hosiery, full-fashioned hosiery is of atype that is knit in sheet form and, then, has its being presented, thus, a seam extending from the toe to the top of the stocking.

Mock-seam hosiery is knit in tubular form and is, in fact, seamless; but, to meet a public demand, a longitudinal seam is simulated in the fabric, so that the article resembles full-fashioned hosiery. c

When the goods have been dyed or bleached, they are usually maintained in a damp condition for a finishing operation.

This involves placing them on forming 1n-' strumentalities, usually called drying boards or forms. The operation is known in the industry as boarding or finishing. The product is thereby dried, shaped and'creased front and rear.

In the boarding of both full-fashioned and mock-seam hosiery, the present-day practice with most manufacturers is to lay the seam-whether it be the real seam in fullfashioned hosiery or the simulated scam in mock-seam hosiery-t0 one side of the crease or longitudinal line therein extending at least from the heel to the top of the stocking. This practice results in the production of what are called rights and lefts, these designations arising from the fact that the seam, during theboarding, is disposed to the right or to the left of the rear crease. The rights and lofts are paired, as such. The structure of my present invention is characterized not only by having its front and rear portions provided with crease-producing edges but, also, by having, at oppositesides of the rear crease-producing edge thereof, seam-seat ng incuts'or guiding surfaces With walls which are more or less angularly disposed to each other, and which form a seam-seating cavity.

two longitudinal edges sewed together, there- No. 1,583,590, dated May 4, 1926. Serial No. 100,601.

Each incut includes a seam-engaging surface, and two proximate surfaces terminate in and constitute the rear crease-produc- 1ng edge of the form. That is to say, the rear portlon of the form, from the toe to the base thereof-or from the heel to the base, in some IIISt-ZIIICGSlS provided with a pair of incuts, these being separated by a crease-producing edge, this latter involving the extremities of the proximate seam engaging walls of the intents, whereby the scam in the hosiery, when boarded on the form, will be disposed either to the right or the left side of the crease therein formed by the crease-producing edge."

In my aforementioned parent application, 7

Serial No. 455,088, one ofthe two types of forms disclosed and claimed therein has but one seam-seating incut, so that, to board hosiery as, rights and lefts, two forms are requireda pair, in other wordsone with the incut at one side ofithe crease-producing edge and the other with the incut at the opposite side thereof. In other words, to board a pair of stockings, a pair ofthese forms is utilized, each having its incut oppositely disposed to that in the other. WVit-h the structure of the present form, however, boarding of bot-h rights and lefts on the one form is rendered 'possible and, as a consequence,-the

number of forms required in a plant is reduced, approximately, one-half. Manifestly,

a hosiery-manufacturing mill a where in large number of these forms are employed for finishing hosiery, the reduction of the hosiery-finishing devices by one-half, say,

expense of the equipmentv itself but, also, in floor space, etc.

It will be understood that Where hosiery having either an actual seam or the aforementioned mock-seam is boardedon a form of the character described, that seam is initially involves a tremendous saving, not only in the finishing operation, the seam thereof, as Well as the fabric, is set so that; in the finished product, the seam will remain in a fixed relation to the crease, according to whether it is on theright or the left side thereof.

In order that my invention may more readily be comprehended, I have herein illustratedone embodiment thereof; it being understood, however, that this is merely illustrative, that my inventive-concept is suseepti ble of other embodiments and utilizations, and that the particular embodiment shown is capable of a. wide range of variation and modification without departing from the esseam in the article;

Figure 2 is a somewhat enlarged view in transverse section, on the line 2 2, Figure- 1; and

3 is a fragmentary View, also in Figure transverse section but on a very much larger scale,'showing the portion of the form which is provided with the pair of seam-seating incuts.

Referring to these drawings, the referencecharacter 1 designates a stocking of the socalled full-fashioned type having aseam 2 at the back and extending from the toe of the 1 stocking to the top thereof. It will be understood that where the stocking is of the mockscam type, the simulated SBMXLUSLHLHY extends only from the heel to the top of the stocking; but the presence of the mock-seam requires the finishing operation to be the seam. For the purpose of this disclosure, therefore, it will be suflicient to assume that the stocking, as illustrated, is of either the full-fashioned or mock-seam type. as the functioning of my invention is concerned, it is substantially the same as applied to both types.

The stocking, in this instance, is shown as superposed upon a form 3 of the aforementioned patented type-adapted simultaneously to dry, shape and crease it. The form is, in this instance, hollow (as at 4) to contain "a thermal fluid for heating it interiorly. It

is to be understood, however, that it may be solid and may be heated in any required manner, as by electricity, etc.

Preferably and as shown, the form .3 has arc-shaped or bulged sides 5, these being So far shaped to conform to the shape of a stocking so as" to effect a shaping thereof, the sidi fthereof terminating in crease-produe edges 6 and 7. These sides and edges funetign" to effect, simultaneously, a shaping, creasing and finishing of the hosiery while it is being dried on the form.

Disposed at opposite sides of the rear;

crease-producing edge 7 is a pair of incuts-8 which, in a form adapted for boarding fullfashioned hosiery, extend from the tee-end 9of the form to the base 10 thereof. Where the form is adapted for boarding mock-seam hosiery, the groove may extend only from the heel, 11 to the base 10. I

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 1.to 3 each incut is of substantially L-shape in crosssection and, thus, includes a seam-engaging surface 12, an. angular surface 13, and acorner 14, the two corners being connected by an edge-section 15. The juncture of the two surfaces 12 and 13 presents a seam-seating section of the incut.

By reason of the disposition of the two incuts in juxtaposition, the two seam engaging surfaces 12 of the pair are in substantial parallelism and, thus, merge into the edge 7.

Thus, it is apparent that the crease-producing edge includes elements of the two incuts: The latter are, in other words, definitely related, one'to the other, so that part of each merges into the two and'form a crease-producing surface, namely, the edge 7 In other words, the termini of the outstanding sections of. the incuts form the crease-producing edge The surface 12, in this instance, occupies a plane at one side of a line cutting through the oppositecrease-producingedge 6. Hence, the two surfaces 12 are on opposite sides of that line, while the surfaces 13 are angularly disposed in relation thereto. seam 2 occupies and is seated in one of the incutsthe right one, say-the section'of the fabric on the opposite side of the seam bridges I theleft incut,whi'le the edge-section 15 is forming the crease in the goods. It isfto be understood that, in making the incuts, the corners 14' are not purposely produced; in fact, they are really existent only in a more or less magnified sense. Theaim is, in makingthe crease-producing edge, to form it by merging the surfaces 12 into each other without, of course, making a cutting edge. From this, it will be manifest that the juxtaposed relation of the incuts results in the two incuts forming, together, an entity-the crease-producing edge-which determines the position of the crease in the goods while the surface 12 determines the position; and relation of.

the seam to the crease and the distance there from it shall occupy. J It 'will be observed that the edge 7 is directly opposite to and in line with the crease-:

producing edge 6. Thus, theform has a pair of oppositely disposed crease producing In operation, when a u edges. It will also be observed that the surfaces of the incuts which merge into and form the rear edge constitute a crease-producing instrumentality 7 for creasing the rear portion of the stocking simultaneously with the production of a crease by the front edge 6 in the front of the stocking.

From the foregoing, it will be perceived that I have devised a unique hosiery-boarding form peculiarly adapted for the finishing not only of full-fashioned and mock-seam hosiery but one so constituted that a single device is presented for boarding either rights or lefts, as may be required.

It will be understood, of course, that the presence of the incuts in the form does not prevent satisfactory boarding of seamless hosiery of the'type which is not provided with I the aforementioned mock-seam.

It is now generally known that, as hosiery is pulled onto the heated forms in. a comparatively damp condition, the moisture in the fabric willbe quickly evaporated and the fabric in consequence is set or fixed. In the initial boarding operation, the hosiery, when placed on the forms, is stretched to the dimensions approximately of the ultimate'product and then, before becoming set, is manipulated to position the seamin one or the other of the incuts in the form. The evaporation of moisture from the fabric not only produces the aforementioned setting or fixing thereof,v

hosiery can be boarded, either as a left or as a right on the structure, the two engaging surfacesterminatmg 1n and formlng one of the crease-producing edges whereby a crease may be seleetively produced in the hosiery with theseam therein disposed at one or the other side thereof.

2. A hosiery drying and shaping structure provided with oppositely-disposed creaseproducing edges and with a pair of incuts at opposite sides of one of the crease-producing edges, each incut comprising a seam-seating section whereby seamed hosiery can be boarded, either as a left or as aright on the structure, the outstanding walls or surfaces of the two incuts terminating in and forming one of said crease-producing edges whereby a crease may be selectively produced. in the hosiery with the seam therein disposed at one or the other side thereof.

3. A hosiery drying and shaping structure having oppositely-disposed crease-producing edges, and a pair of incuts, one at each side of one of the crease-producing edges,*each incut comprising a seam-seating section, the outstanding walls of which merge into and form one of'said crease-producing edges, the section of the structure involving the incuts being formed of a web of material relatively thinner than the body-portion of the structure and presenting two Walls at opposite sides of a median line extending transversely through the structure, these 'walls being joined by a connecting wall or surface constituting said crease-producing edge whereby a crease may be selectively produced in the hosiery with the seam therein disposed at one or the other side thereof. r

4. A drying and shaping structure for treating hosiery including a form provided with oppositely-disposed crease-producing edges and with a pair of approximately L- shaped incuts at opposite sides ofand' adj acent one of thecrease-producing edges, each incut comprising angularly-disposed surfaces including a seam-engaging surface whereby seamed hosiery can be boarded, either as a left or as a right on the structure, the two engaging surfaces terminating in and forming one of said crease-producing edges, whereby a seam of the stocking may at the will of the operator be positioned at either side of the crease effected by the proximate crease-producing edge.

\ In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LYNN GRAY. 

